


Some Burn Hot, Some Burn Cold

by Ceata88



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Gen, but u know u know, cross posting from tumblr cause tumblr is an ass, elemental powers, it's about ninjas and anger, it's also half venting about stuff the show never addresses, it's half a fic half an essay, post season four all the way to post season seven, takes place from like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 08:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15239778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceata88/pseuds/Ceata88
Summary: Master Wu often warned Lloyd about controlling his powers, and for a while he didn't even realize what that truly meant. As he witnesses his friend's powers respond to their high emotions, he begins to wonder if there's more than one way to control it.





	Some Burn Hot, Some Burn Cold

**Author's Note:**

> You know I'm mainly crossposting this cause I spent all day working on it and then tumblr just don't even put it in the tags aslkfj. If you dig up the post u can see my tags for some additional ramblings on this subject.

Before Lloyd could even use his elemental power his uncle would constantly pester him about control. Lloyd’s power was great, he had to be careful. It was a lesson he quickly understood whenever it blew up in his palms, exploded light bulbs, accidentally caught furniture on fire.

But they were small things, easy to correct, and over time he got the knack for it.

It took longer for him to realize exactly what his uncle was warning him about.

He couldn’t have known. His teams elemental powers seemed to be missing until they learned the convenient fact that the weapons only aided their control. Even when it was returned they used them so minimally during combat. Lloyd was never sure if they were holding back or they never realized what they could do. 

His answer came after the battle with Chen.

It was rough on more people than just him, Lloyd knew that, although he preferred to hide in his own bubble for a while trying to process the fact he’d never see his father again. It was something Kai eventually dragged him out of, insisting he and the others were taking a trip to Ninjago city. Some sort of vacation, they all needed it, team building exercises now that everyone was back together.

It drew Lloyd out a bit, enough to remember how long Zane had been missing as the nindroid asked him a good number of questions. The team was clearly holding back how much they missed him, although with how often Cole was clinging to the nindroid he was being the least subtle of the group. 

And it was fun, for a while. They visited museums, rented a fancy hotel room, went to see performances, check out local restaurants, and visited Skylor and her newly acquired business. Bit by bit it became easier to stop dwelling on his father and remember to live in the present now and then. 

Then there was the special segment on the news. 

At first it spoke about the invasion of Chen’s army and the damage that was caused. Lloyd tried not to let it bother him, knew that a lot of towns suffered damage while the team desperately worked out a plan to stop them. He forced himself to listen to some of the accounts, try and understand what these people had gone through. 

Then there was one older gentlemen who went too far, complaining about how many times this had happened. First a giant snake, then the overlord, and then an army of robots.

Lloyd could see Zane go stiff, which was saying a lot considering the nindroid’s posture was rarely ever relaxed. It got worse as the man continued, blaming technology, blaming Borg, and then even going as far as blaming Julien for designing nindroids in the first place.

Zane stood up, so fast that everyone in the room flinched. 

“My apologies.” His voice was level which only worried Lloyd more. “I will be back later.”

And he left, just like that. Cole got up to follow but Nya grabbed his arm, saying he’d be back and they could talk about it then.

Kai turned off the TV. 

Zane didn’t return, and while they were worried, it was late. Pixal at least sent them a message that Zane was safe, so they all settled in to sleep.

Lloyd awoke with a start when the wind slammed against the window at four in the morning. Everyone else did too. It was rushing by so fast it sounded like a hollow screech. He jumped out of bed, running over to pull back the curtains.

It was a blizzard, a bad one. Ice and snow whipped through the air fast enough to turn everything white. 

“Zane.” Was all Cole said before scrambling for his clothes, trying to dig out a jacket. “We need to find Zane.”

“What?” Jay snapped back. “How do you know this is him and not some other evil jerkwad for us to deal with?”

“Because I’ve seen it, back in the forest, not long after his dad…” Cole didn’t finish the thought as he found his hoodie. “We need to find him.” 

They didn’t want to split up too much in this storm. Kai, Nya and Jay went one way while Cole and Lloyd went in the other. Probably a good thing. Cole’s element allowed him to snatch Lloyd when the wind became overwhelming and keep them both anchored. 

They found Zane in the park, in front of his own statue. Lloyd was going to call out but Cole rushed out first.

“Zane?” The wind almost blew the earth ninja back before he reached out and grabbed the nindroid’s shoulder. “Zane, what’s going on?”

Lloyd could barely hear the conversation so he drew closer. Ice nipped at his cheeks. His ears were numb. 

“I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves.” Zane’s voice was still so level, calm, but this storm told them everything but. “That’s what my father designed me for. I thought…” He looked at the statue. “I thought that’s how people saw it too.”

“Forget that asshole.” Cole said. “People do see it that way Zane I–”

“It was not my father’s fault that some…evil entity twisted his work into an army.” The wind got sharper. Lloyd cringed and curled up. “Is that what people think about now when they hear his name? The man who’s inventions turned a city into fear and ruins?”

“No,” Cole’s voice grew firmer. “Just because one or two assholes think that Zane doesn’t mean everyone else does. Anyone with half a brain would know that wasn’t his fault. Anyone with half a brain would know that if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t exist, you wouldn’t have saved everyone.” 

Zane’s voice finally broke. The temperature was getting so low. Lloyd’s fingers hurt. “If I did not exist then that army wouldn’t have either.” 

“Hey.” Cole shouted. “Don’t say shit like that Zane. I don’t even want to toy with the idea of living in a world where you don’t exist I… I already had to. I never want to again. If fighting an army of evil clones is the price I have to pay for being able to meet you then I’ll do it again.” 

The wind stopped. Everything stopped. Lloyd gasped as he saw the snow and ice hanging idle in the air. 

“You have every right to be upset.” Cole continued. “I get it but… Talk it out with us. Don’t stand out here almost putting Ninjago under eight feet of ice.” 

Only now did Zane seem to be aware of his surroundings. His blue eyes were wide, glowing in the haze the ice created. “Oh…” 

The snow moved again, falling to the ground gently this time. The wind was still. Lloyd exhaled, already feeling the temperature going up. Not to a comfortable level, but enough that he wasn’t worried about freezing. 

“Better?” Cole gripped Zane’s shoulder. 

“I… a bit, yes. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Cole had that look on his face, one Lloyd had noticed many times. “Let’s get back to the hotel room okay?” 

“Yes,” Zane reached up, taking Cole’s hand. “Thank you, Cole.” 

Lloyd noticed that facial expression too, but he ignored it. Right now he was more worried about was the news was going to say about all this snow tomorrow. 

Not that they found out. The team refused to turn the news back on and it took two days for the snow to melt. For now they just hung around the hotel, using the indoor pool and watching movies. Lloyd tried to focus on them but he was distracted.

An entire blizzard. Zane’s anger summoned an entire blizzard.

Perhaps this is what Wu meant when he warned Lloyd of control. 

Not that the warning lasted, especially not when they returned to the monastery.

Or what was left of it, rather. 

Lloyd’s stomach dropped when they walked past the gate. All the buildings by now had been demolished. At first he panicked, wondering if there had been an attack, only to be struck by confusion when his mother rushed over to give him a hug. 

“How was the trip?” She asked, like there was nothing strange going on.

“What happened?” Kai asked the question they were all thinking. 

“Oh,” her smile dropped as she looked back. “We… with Lloyd’s father gone we had to decide what to do with the land.”

What? No they didn’t. His father’s monastery was fine. It had plenty of space, and rooms, and memories… 

“I’m sorry Lloyd,” she put a hand on his shoulder. “But with no one teaching–”

“I could have!”

Lloyd didn’t mean to scream, wasn’t sure where it came from, but now he was hyper aware of the rage boiling under his skin. 

Everyone seemed taken aback by it, including his mother. “Sweetie, maybe you could one day but you’re far too young right now.”

“So why tear it down? Why not just re-purpose it? What are you even planning to put there?”

He didn’t like his mother’s hesitation. That meant she knew he wasn’t going to like her answer.

“What are you putting there?” He repeated the question, not in the mood to have some other lecture about how he was too young to know better or some other nonsense. Maybe he was too young but he already had to carry the fate of a country on his shoulders so he damn well deserved people talking to him like an adult. 

“Well, with our original mission long over,” Misako fiddled with her braid. “Your uncle was considering a tea shop.”

A what?

The fury rushed out of Lloyd so fast he wasn’t even aware of it. The ground shook. Green light completely enveloped the area. Everyone around him gasped and screamed. The ground shook even more, electricity jumped through the cloud he created, fire rushed up his shoulders. 

“Lloyd!” Kai had to scream to be heard over the roar of energy around him. Lloyd wasn’t listening.

A tea shop? Everything his father worked for to make up for the wrong he’d done was being torn down for a tea shop? One of the good things the man left behind and it was being replaced? Did they want to make it so the only thing people would think of when they heard Garmadon’s name was a shadow crawling over Ninjago city? Not the man who dedicated his teachers to fighting without violence? Who risked everything to keep them safe? Who gave his life and afterlife to protect Ninjago? 

_“I once wanted to make the world in my image. Now I see I already have, in you.”_

His father was gone. His laughter was gone. Those late nights bickering over video games were gone. Those times setting up elaborate pranks were gone. His constant stream of wisdom was gone. Those sturdy embraces reminding Lloyd he had someone to lean on were gone. 

And now the monastery, the last remaining place where Lloyd felt he could still be close to his father, was gone. 

The grief was too much. He clutched his head and screamed. The ground was being torn apart. 

“Lloyd!” Kai’s desperate scream reached him this time. He was finally conscious of the damage around him. Everyone else was taking cover as the green energy pulsed off his body, trying to tear through anything in it’s path. 

A hand gripped his arm. Lloyd looked over at Kai who was clearly struggling against the forces around him. “I know you’re mad, okay? I know. I get it, but you’ve gotta come down before you blow a hole underneath us.” 

Control. Calm down. Keep your powers under control. Lloyd reminded himself of that, focused on Kai’s grip as he tried to settle his emotions into something more manageable. 

It still ached, a raw wound in his chest, even as the rage stopped blazing under his skin. The green light receded. The path and the grass were torn to shreds. The remains of the buildings had scattered everywhere, some of them still glowing with a green flame. 

Exhaustion hit him like a train. Kai caught him before he could collapse. Lloyd didn’t hesitate to grip the fire ninja’s shirt and sob into his chest. 

“Lloyd.” His mother spoke. His anger started to spike again, but when he turned to glare at her Cole was already standing between them. 

“I think you should give him some space.” The ground under them shifted ever so slightly. Lloyd wasn’t sure if it was him or not. 

His mother left. The ninja all pulled him out of there, resting by the river in the forest as Lloyd tried to collect his emotions. He couldn’t stay mad forever. When he calmed down they’d talk about this.

Although honestly, he doubted he’d ever fully forgive his mother or Wu for doing this. 

Things were quiet after that for a while, if you could consider fighting a ghost army and some eldritch being that carried an entire realm as quiet.

Kai and Nya were around the same time, strangely enough. Siblings were like that, Lloyd imagined. 

After the events at Stiix the media seemed to hound them non-stop. While most of the ninja basked in the attention, Lloyd wasn’t fond of it. The entire event was nothing but a bad memory. Between being possessed, used as a bargaining tool and then failing to save his father yet again… 

Yeah, Lloyd didn’t want to think about it. It kind of worked out. Kai would always cut in, taking the spotlight and giving Lloyd a chance to get away. 

Until someone didn’t let him. They didn’t seem to be from any of the major news outlets, but their persistence made Lloyd nervous. Their questions even more so. 

“Is it true you aided the ghost army in order to see your father again?”

Lloyd froze in his attempt to escape. “What?”

“According to the information we found you were possessed for quite some time. And your father was sealed in the cursed realm.” They flipped through their notebook. “Is that the reason you allowed it?”

Before Lloyd could even get upset Kai cut in, standing between them. “Whoa, hey, sorry. Lloyd doesn’t do interviews.” The fire ninja was already urging him to run. 

“Then are you willing to answer why Lloyd allowed himself to be possessed?”

Kai was laughing, possibly out of confusion. “I’m sorry, what?” 

“For a ghost to have possessed him that long–”

“Lloyd didn’t let any of this happen.” Kai’s voice immediately took an edge. “So just jot that down and get out of here.”  

“Of course not, Ninjago’s golden boy can do no wrong it seems.”

“Drop it.” The temperature around them was rising. Lloyd pulled away from Kai. “Whatever you and your stupid cohorts are thinking, you’re wrong. We didn’t ask for any of this.” 

“No, you never seem to but you’re happy to take up the spotlight when it’s over.” 

The air got hotter, denser. Lloyd had trouble breathing. “Kai, let’s just go.” 

Kai ignored him. “Maybe you should blame your competition for that, not us.”

“Bold words coming from you fire ninja.” The man was writing again. “Considering how much time you take up on camera. Of course now I’m suspecting that’s to keep people’s attention off whatever the green ninja’s been up to.” 

The fire erupted. Lloyd shouted and backed up, feeling the heat lick against his skin. It was hot, so hot, but at least not to a point where it burned him. He had to squint against the light, the wall of flames shooting far above the surrounding buildings. 

“Back off.” Kai shouted. “Lloyd never asked for this. He didn’t ask to have some asshole ghost force him to do all that crap. He didn’t ask for the cursed realm to be brought here. He didn’t ask to deal with any of the stuff that happened to him.” The flames shot even higher. “And if you or anyone else tries to keep dragging him back through all the shit he went through I’ll burn your damn news building to the ground.” 

“Kai!” Lloyd knew it was foolish to reach out, but somehow the fire didn’t burn him as he gripped Kai’s shoulder. The heat wrapped around his hand, gentle but intense. It was similar to the feeling he got when Kai pulled them both out of that volcano. Who knew fire could feel so safe?

He could hear the reporting running away, although he couldn’t see anything through the wall of orange and red. 

Then, just as quickly as the flames appeared, they vanished. Kai snorted, smoke coming out of his nose as he turned around. “You okay?” 

“Huh?” Lloyd blinked and let go. “Am I okay? Are you okay?” He glanced at the buildings. None of them were burning but the scorch marks were hard to miss. 

“I didn’t burn you, did I?”

“What? No…” Lloyd look at his hand. “Somehow no. How… how did you control that?”

“I’m used to being angry.” Kai gave him a smile. “Something I learned without Master Wu’s help. Controlling your emotions doesn’t mean ignoring them. It’s okay to blow some steam now and then.” He turned Lloyd around, keeping a grip on his shoulder as he urged him down the street. “I knew I had no chance in hell of shutting my anger down so… I just learned to direct it better.”

Yeah, that made sense somehow. “But I’ve never seen you do that before.”

“I try and keep myself isolated when I get that mad.” Kai confessed. “But not this time.” 

“Thanks,” Lloyd sighed. “I guess even with all this positive media there’s always going to be people like that.”

“Of course there are. Forget about them. Let’s go put on awful disguises and get some ice cream.” 

Lloyd laughed and quickly followed after him. 

Nya was only a few days later. It was early morning, around three AM. The Bounty was out of the sky for refueling, sitting in the docks. 

Rain wasn’t an usual thing to hear, and Lloyd couldn’t place what woke him up but the roar of water was so loud he couldn’t manage to go back to sleep. 

So he got up, wandering around the ship to find some tea when he spotted Nya standing out on the deck. 

He probably should leave her alone. Lloyd knew that while Kai’s anger was sharp and fast his sister’s was explosive. 

Still, it didn’t feel right to leave her there. Pajamas be dammed. He wandered out into the rain. The water was dense and came down hard, stinging his skin. In a matter of seconds he was drenched, but he ignored it. 

Nya stood near the end of the bow, almost up on the ledge, just staring out ahead. Her arms were crossed. At first Lloyd assumed it was from the chill but getting closer he saw she wasn’t even wet. 

“Nya?” He had to call out over the water. 

She jumped, turning to look at him. “Lloyd? What are you doing out here?” She gestured for him to come closer. The rain slowed down ever so slightly.

“I was going to ask you that.” When he was close enough Nya put an arm around him. Suddenly the rain stopped hitting his skin. The water warped around them as if there was some sort of shield. 

“Just venting, I guess.” Her gaze went back out to the bay. “Kai suggested it before I almost knocked the boat over in frustration yesterday.” 

Was that what that was? Zane had been making theories about whales or other sea creatures. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” He suggested.

She snorted. “No offense Lloyd, but I’m not sure any of you guys would get it.”

“Well we can’t if you don’t try.”

She seemed to consider that before waving her hand out at the water. “I hate this.”

Lloyd frowned. “The rain?”

“Being the water ninja.” She clenched her fists. “It’s so stupid. I mean, let’s forget that I apparently had these powers for years and never knew. Forget the fact that I could have been helping you guys from the start with this if I had only known.”

“You were helpful.” Lloyd argued. “I counted on you more than anything when I was little. And your Samurai X equipment–”

“I don’t even have that anymore.” The rain came down harder. “Now I’m just the water ninja, some other destiny nonsense and I’m just… I’m sick of not being able to pick it for myself. I had an identity. I had a role I made for myself and now I’m just… the girl.”

Ah, this had to be about some of those recent interviews. People asking Nya more questions about her love life and beauty tips than anything pertaining to combat. Even though Nya was ultimately the one that saved them all at Stiix. 

“This power is cool and all, I guess.” Nya pulled up some of the water that was on the deck, letting it drift around. “But I wish I could have learned about it on my own, not had it thrown at me because we suddenly need it to save the world.” 

“Nah, I understand.” Lloyd sighed. “Destiny sucks.” 

“Yeah.” She dropped the water and let it splash against the wood. “You know, you and I should just ditch sometime.”

Lloyd snorted. “What?”

“Just you and me, go do something fun, take a Samurai X vehicle on a trip. We can forget the news and the media. Let the boys have their own fun like back in the good ol’ days.”

Ah yes, the good ol’ days. Back before Lloyd’s magical growth spurt. He wasn’t so certain if he could consider them that but… well, at least back then his father had still been alive. 

“I wouldn’t say no to some time off.” Lloyd replied. “Should we sneak out and give them all a scare?”

“Good idea,” she chuckled. “This weekend.”

“You got it.” 

“Now go on, you should go back to bed.” Nya lead him back to the door.

“Huh? What about you?”

“I’m gonna vent a little longer.” She gave him a sad smile. “Sorry if the rain’s too loud.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Nya left him when he was finally out of the rain. He watched her walk slowly back to the end of the ship, gaze fixed forward. It worried him, but he’d already done everything he could for her. He went to dry off and go back to sleep. 

Lloyd figured he should be surprised it took as long as it did for Jay to snap. Then again the lightning ninja was always venting his frustrations and fears, not leaving much of anything to build up.

He’d been acting strange the past couple of weeks too, ever since that day they were trying to dodge the media and Nya suddenly learned airjitzu. The entire team felt like they were missing something but Jay and Nya never explained it.

He was jumpier than usual. Lloyd was also aware he was having nightmares as he caught Jay wandering around the Bounty at night. He’d asked what was wrong before, the lightning ninja would always laugh it off and tell him to go back to bed.

And why did he keep staring at the Airjitzu temple?

Lloyd wasn’t sure how it started floating. Part of his mind kept telling him it’d always been there, but that wasn’t right. He wanted to go check it out but Jay refused. 

Couldn’t get him to mop either, or demand him to do any chores, although he would still clean on his own time. He seemed nervous around heights suddenly. Was far more scared of spiders. And one day when Kai mumbled that he wished it wasn’t so hot outside, Jay snapped at him. 

It was strange.

Jay wouldn’t explain it. 

It was a couple of weeks before the Day of the Departed, which was making even more headlines than usual due to the unique eclipse. All the buzz was bringing more artifacts to the museum for a special exhibit during the holiday, which was bringing out criminals trying to get their hands on them. Nya already threatened Ronin who insisted he had no interest in that kind of thing. He was probably lying, but at least the ninja never found him taking something. 

But others were far more bold, or foolish. A gang of them intercepted a delivery truck and the ninja were called to deal with it.

Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, at least until one of them pulled out explosives. 

None of them were prepared. Kai screamed out a warning to Nya who was headed straight for it. She managed to swerve her bike but the blast still sent her flying through the air. One of the gang members laughed as they came by on their own bike, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her along. 

“Nya?” Jay’s voice sounded even more panicked than usual. Lloyd felt his hair stand on end. Kai was already trying to zoom ahead with his dragon, but it couldn’t compare when Jay’s shot forward so fast it seemed to teleport in the air. 

“Let her go.” The lightning ninja shouted as soon as he reappeared. His element was already jumping from his body, latching onto anything nearby. He leapt off his dragon’s back, headed straight for the truck. “Let her go!”

He slammed onto the hood. Lightning burst, covering everything. Thunder shook the ground. Lloyd had to screech his bike to a halt as he covered his eyes from the glaring light. Sparks hit his arms. He could feel every single one of his nerves.

When the light died down, he looked to see smoke coming from the front of the truck. The man inside climbed out, shouting in terror. The other members who’d been knocked off their bikes from the impact tried to flee as well. 

“You’re not going anywhere!” Jay’s voice was unbelievably deep, rattling the air like the thunder did earlier. None of the men got far. Lightning struck down from the sky, hitting their targets as well as the nearby power lines. A few of them burst into red sparks. 

“Jay, calm down!” Cole shouted, hanging onto Zane who seemed to be having trouble standing. 

Nya forced herself up off the ground. Her uniform was tattered from being dragged along the road. Her arm was bleeding. She ran over to Jay anyway.

“Jay, I’m okay.” She reached out, but didn’t touch him. “No one’s kidnapping me.”

Kidnapping? Is that what he was worried about?

But it seemed to do the trick, to a point. Jay’s lightning faded although static still jumped around his arms. “Y-you’re bleeding. Are you okay?” Jay grabbed her arm. 

“I’m okay.” She put a hand on his cheek. “Thanks for the save.” 

Jay seemed to collapse against her, hiding his face in her shoulder. Lloyd still had no clue what was going on, but at least this night was almost over.

One of the gang members groaned and tried to get up. Jay suddenly whirled on them, one more bolt of lightning striking nearby. “Don’t move!”

The man whimpered and ducked. Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Come on guys, we need to get this stuff to the museum.” By “you guys” he mostly meant Kai, Cole and Zane. He left Nya and Jay to themselves as the lightning ninja fretted over her wound. He might have been crying. Lloyd never mentioned it. 

Lloyd recalled all of this, watching his friends and himself lose control of their powers now and then due to high emotions. He wondered about it more as he watched Cole out of the corner of his eye. His friend now free of his curse, more or less just rolling in the grass outside of the floating temple. He seemed to just enjoy the feeling of it against his face. 

Lloyd had never seen Cole lose his cool, at least not to that point. It was a bit odd really. The ninja could be rather stubborn. He’d gotten into such ends with Jay before. Part of him wondered what it would take to drive him to the point of his powers exploding. 

Then again, he also hoped he never found out.

But he did anyway. Cole had been away from the temple for a few days following their battle with the time brothers. The team was still trying to recover the loss of their master, reorganize everything, find a place to keep looking. Cole saying he was taking a few days wasn’t unusual. But now Lloyd wanted to get everyone on the same page.

So he went out looking for the earth ninja. His first stop was to see Lou and upon asking him where Cole was his gaze turned sad.

“He was here.” The man said. “He told me what happened.” He idly rubbed the door frame. 

“Do you know where he went?” Lloyd frowned.

“Yes, the Wailing Alps. His mother would often take him there for rock climbing when he was little.” Lou sighed. 

Lloyd didn’t know much about Cole’s mom. Cole never talked about her and Lloyd wasn’t brave enough to ask. “I’ll go find him. Thanks.”

“Lloyd.”

He stopped and looked back.

“If he is anything like his mother, which he is, please approach with caution.” 

Lloyd had no idea what that meant, couldn’t ask. The man shut the door. What on earth could it possibly mean? Cole doing some rock climbing to clear his head wasn’t that unusual. Lloyd just hoped he hadn’t gone so high that he’d have trouble reaching him.

But as he drew closer to the mountain, his fear shifted. Even from a distance he could see a series of sharp stones jutting out of the side, curling inward. It was clear there’d been a number of rock falls. An entire area of the mountain seemed to be gutted out, pillars of stone pointed in every direction, like the jaws of a monster.

Lloyd risked landing, taking his time to navigate the stones. He could hear some of them creaking. A gust of wind blew by, knocking a few of the peaks loose. 

He slipped through a few more pillars, finally finding a clearing. Cole sat in the center, almost looking relaxed compared to all the small sharp stones scattered around his feet. 

“Cole?” Lloyd kept his voice low. 

The earth ninja turned to look at him, his face calm as well. “Huh, it was you. Could tell someone was approaching. What’s up little dude?”

Lloyd almost wanted to argue he most certainly wasn’t little anymore, but the scene around him was making him uneasy. “Are you okay?” 

“Oh, this?” Cole actually laughed as he fully turned around, still seated on the  ground. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you know how it goes. Blowing a little steam. Not like it’s the first time.”

That only made Lloyd more nervous. “It’s not? When was the first time?”

Cole’s smile dropped and he looked away. “When we lost Zane. When we had that argument and all split up. I was just wandering in the woods and…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t control any of it. I put a crater in the ground. Why I come up here now.”

Lloyd recalled, the number of times Cole would go missing for a few days at a time. There had been so many of them after he’d been turned into a ghost. The first of those he’d been gone so long Jay actually started to panic that Cole had moved onto the after life. 

“Are you okay?” Lloyd asked again.

“I told you, I’m fine now.” Cole got up and brushed the dirt off his uniform. There was blood on his knuckles. “Is something going on at the temple?” 

“Stop lying to me,” Lloyd mumbled. “Stop pretending you’re fine.” At least the others had opened up to what was causing their explosion of power. “What’s going on?” 

Cole met his gaze. The ground shook underneath them and for a second Lloyd was afraid it would collapse. 

“Nothing I can do anything about.” Cole said. “Just once again losing people I care about it seems.” His smile was anything but honest. “First my mom, then Zane, then Garmadon, now Wu, who’s next?” 

“Cole, I know how you feel–”

“No you don’t!” 

Lloyd felt the earth move under his feet. A handful of the pillars around them crumbled. 

“You know what my title is, Lloyd? The master of earth. I’m the steady rock on the team. I’m the support. Before you came along I had to be in charge. You really think I have time to toss my shit on you guys when I’m supposed to carry everything else?”

Lloyd sputtered. “What? Cole no. You don’t have to carry any of this by yourself.”

“Oh yeah?” A new pillar of stone shot out of the ground. “I’m sure all of you were thinking that back on the Day of the Departed. I had to fight an entire cursed temple by myself because apparently none of you were concerned about the fact that I had gone missing.” 

Lloyd’s heart stopped. He’d tried to apologize for that once, they all had. Cole passed it off as Yang’s doing at the time. 

“Cole we… we never meant to do that. Why didn’t you tell us it hurt you that bad?”

“I already told you.” Cole spoke through gritted teeth. A boulder tumbled down from above, crushing a group of pillars. Lloyd shouted and ducked, but Cole didn’t even flinch. “I don’t have time to toss my shit on someone else. So I come out here. I yell for a bit. I go back. You don’t need to worry about it.” 

“But I am.” Lloyd said. “You don’t have to pretend you can take ever punch life swings at you. We’re your friends, Cole. We want to help.” 

Cole’s gaze softened. The ground stopped shaking. He moved his gaze toward the peak. “You know, my mom used to bring me here all the time when I was little. We didn’t climb far, wasn’t safe. So when we lost her I… I made it a challenge, to climb as high as I could. Master Wu was waiting for me.” He shifted his stance, kicking a stone across the ground. “Training as a ninja is a pretty good distraction.” 

Lloyd wasn’t sure what to say to that. He knew how it felt to lose a parent. Zane did too. It was weird that Cole never bothered to–

He blinked. “You knew.”

“Huh?”

“Back after fighting Chen, you said you found Zane when he lost his father and he summoned that blizzard. But you knew more than any of us what our powers were capable of after losing him. That’s why you insisted on finding him.”

Cole studied him, almost surprised as he shifted again. “Yeah? So?”

“You… you’re the one who taught Kai, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Kai said he learned to control his burst of power without Master Wu. He also described it as blowing steam. You’re the one who taught him.”

“I gave him some advice.” Cole shrugged. “Not a big deal.”

No, it was a huge deal. These bursts of powers were dangerous at times, sure, but with how their past battles had been going they needed something more. They needed that extra power to combat whatever was coming next.

Lloyd sat down on the ground, his legs criss-cross.

Cole blinked at him. “Uh? Lloyd?”

“Teach me.”

“Pardon?”

“This, teach me how to use this.” He gestured at the stones. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t approve of you using this as your only means of dealing with your emotions but… I want to learn how to control it. I want to teach the others. We need to be prepared.” 

Cole sighed and sat down. “Fine.”

“And while we’re at it… I want to learn about your mom.” 

“What for?”

“Because I’m curious, and you clearly need to talk about it.”

Another sigh. The ground seemed to shake with his exhale. “Fine, but don’t we have somewhere to be?”

“We can take a few hours. Now tell me how you worked all of this out.” 

Cole rolled his eyes. He flicked his wrist to give Lloyd and himself a proper place to sit. “Fine then, tiny. Pay attention.” 

Lloyd would have protested the nickname, he was supposed to be the new Master after all, but he let it slide. After all, right now he was just a student.

And part of him felt proud for working out something that Master Wu never mentioned.

**Author's Note:**

> Ninjago presents so many good concepts and just never takes them anywhere sigh
> 
> Also it's fun having a character's anger reflect their abilities
> 
> but I won't ramble about that here


End file.
